Conversations with an Amnesiac
by Cardboard Edward
Summary: A glimpse at Heathcliff's first few days after waking up, as he struggles to figure out who he is and his former team mates try to understand what he's become. Major spoilers for the Villain Virus.
1. Chapter 1

A Heathcliff centric fic (probably 2 chapters, but if I'm clobbered in the head with ideas, maybe more) because I love him and TVV gave me all the feels. Also, I felt like the book needed more of an epilogue, and here it is. I'm not sure where this would fit into the timeline with Miss Information's appearance - so it's slightly AU.

Enjoy.

* * *

The first thought the boy has is quite simple: _I'm dead_.

It makes sense. He doesn't know where he is. Or who he is. Or what he is. It's _very_ bright here, and his body feels weirdly tingly. So the logical conclusion is that he is dead.

Part of his brain awakens sleepily, thinking that's rather romantic and nice, to be dead in a bright, bright place. The skeptic half of his brain kicks in a second later, and it's a little ticked off about this whole thing.

…Oh, God, maybe he's a schizo. (He knows what a 'schizo' is. Is that a good sign? Are there schizophrenics in heaven? Probably not. )

Okay, he _probably_ isn't in heaven. His senses are giving out dead ends- bright lights, a low buzz, and finally… the smell of fruit punch? His tongue slips over his teeth, and he finds that he has a gap in the front. That's weird.

He tries to lift his head. It feels weird - the weight is off, and as he moves, he feels locks of hair brush the top of his eyebrows. He can't remember ever having hair that long. …Come to think of it, he can't remember anything. All he has are those lightning quick bursts of information. They're comforting, in a way. He turns as he thinks, away from the brightness, an orange spot burning bright through his line of vision.

His surroundings shift from a bright light to an equal helpful world of blurred shapes and colors.

"Where am I?" He asks aloud, just to hear the sound of his own voice, and tries not to start when a black clad figure appears out of nowhere and turns to him. It looks like a monster, but it sounds like a boy.

"You're in the playground," comes the voice, young with a very faint Spanish accent. The word triggers an image, and suddenly the boy knows what playgrounds look like. And that they certainly didn't look like this. Why was he lying to him?

"…Or rather, the new playground. When you went to sleep, we were in fifth grade. We've moved to middle school now."

That, at least, made sense to him. A coma he was in for a year… morbid, but refreshingly logical.

"And who are you?" He asks politely.

The other boy shifts a bit, and then takes off his head. It reveals a far less scary head beneath: no shiny black smoothness- he can make out two eyes and a nose and a wide mouth. "Now do you recognize me?"

The boy opens his mouth slightly, cool air hitting the gap between his teeth. "No. I've never seen you before in my life." He doesn't think so, anyway.

He sees the boys' eyes widen a fraction. "I'm… I'm a friend," he reassures him. He speaks quickly, already starting another question before he's finished sounding out 'friend'. "Do you know who you are?"

…

…

Oh.

That was the big question his brain kept skipping over, wasn't it? Me. Who was 'me'? Who was the kid with the gap in his teeth and bad vision? He waits for the inner encyclopedia to provide an answer, a name, a face, but there's nothing. He reaches into the back of his mind, paws into the corners, past the dust bunnies and lint, under the seat cushions and behind the wardrobe, but there's nothing. No one.

"No, I don't," he says, finally, and those are the words of the defeated.

"Your name is Heathcliff," the other boy provides immediately.

The boy – Heathcliff - frowns, mulls it over for a moment. "That's a stupid name," he decides, after moment's thought.

The other kid bursts out into surprised laughter. "It kind of is, _hombre_." Heathcliff feels like that one comment has changed the boys' entire demeanor.

"What's your name?" Heathcliff asks, manners kicking in.

"Julio Escala. But everyone calls me Flinch."

"Why?"

Julio lets out a long, tired sigh. "It's sorta a long story."

* * *

Flinch is pacing outside the doors. He's got a candy bar in one hand, soda in the other, and it's not helping his nerves at all. How does he break the news? How the heck can someone say "Oh, by the way, Heathcliff's awake but doesn't remember anything about himself or the NERDs?"

They're going to be skeptical, and he has no idea how to handle that. They'll all think Heathcliff's putting on a fake face, pretending to be a goodie goodie. He can't exactly say he just _knows _Heathcliff is different, can he? He doesn't even think Duncan would believe him.

Oh, no. What if they think he was brainwashed? That a new strain of the virus came out of Heathcliff's head, one he wasn't immune to? And then they'd all turn against him again. He shuddered at the idea of another Ruby beat down. This time, he'd be ready, at least. He stared at the candy in his hand, chocolate and caramel and peanuts all churned into a delicious snack for him, and a collection of allergens for Ruby. Maybe if he used it as a grenade, he could escape…

"Flinch, stop pacing. It's freaking me out!" Ruby's voice (accompanied by itching) snaps him out of the elaborate fantasy.

"Whoa," Flinch says, turning to see the entire team outside the doors and looking at him. "You're cured? When did you guys get here?"

"Five minutes ago?" Matilda says, raising an eyebrow.

"Oops. Sorry, I'm just… stressed out."

"We all are," Ruby says, and sighs.

Jackson shakes his head miserably. "I wish I never woke up."

"Oh, you already know," Flinch says with relief, hand to his chest. "I was so worried I'd have to break it to you."

Duncan looks uncharacteristically forlorn. "Doctor Kim told us about Miss Holiday when we all came to. I can't believe it."

The relief soaring through Flinch stops with a snap. "She didn't tell you the rest?"

"There's _more?" _Jackson exclaims.

They all turn to him, weary and expectant, and panic starts to kick in. Why, oh why, did Doctor Kim leave it to him? He was no good with this stuff. It was probably because he saw it in person, but that didn't mean he could _explain_ it!

He decides to get it over with. "Heathcliff is back to normal but he doesn't remember anything about himself or NERDs or us or alternate universes or nanos or anything!" He shouts in one breath.

Jackson's blue eyes widen. "You're kidding."

"It's true! I saw him when he woke up and had to carry him over to the doctors. He's a completely new dude."

Ruby's expression darkens, and she pushes up her sleeves. "That doesn't make this whole thing any less his fault," she growls, and starts storming her way down the hallway. Flinch reaches out and grabs her by the back of her shirt, reeling her back. The blonde holds her arms out for balance, looking surprised.

"What are you doing?"

"I've been on the receiving end of your punches, _chica_. Heathcliff - new Heathcliff - doesn't deserve that."

She blushes a little, no allergies involved, and it looks surprisingly girly on her. She fights her way out of his grip. "And it was his fault. How on earth can you forgive him?"

"Because he's different, Pufferfish. He's not Simon or Screwball or Megamind or whatever he called himself anymore. He's a new dude. You have to start over with him."

Duncan, Jackson and Matilda follow the conversation with their gazes, heads snapping back and forth between the two. But at this, all three nod.

But Ruby is silent. She scratches at an itch under her shirtsleeve. "I won't hurt him," she says finally, "even he deserves it. But I will never forgive him. Ever."

* * *

Heathcliff's already pushing himself up by his elbows before they've entered the room. He _knows_ it's not Doctor Kim. Doctor Kim wears heels that make such a precise sound on the white, white floor that he always knows when she's checking in on him. No, this is a group of people, and he finds a strange sense of excitement pass through his belly as he straightens up, running a hand to smooth back his hair.

Because part of him is hoping that his family's on the other side of that door, smiling. His mom would be red haired and in tears, and his dad would be tall and wear glasses, just like he did (or at least, was supposed to), and maybe he had an annoying little sister and they all missed him so much…

There was something in his core that was cold and logical and told him that the looks on all of his doctor's faces made a family reunion unlikely, but he still _hoped._

The door swings open, but it's not his family - or any doctors. Instead, what he thinks is a girl shuffles in, their shoulders hunched, head angled down, with a posture that asked people not to bother them. The kid is short, though, and wears an over-sized jacket, so Heathcliff's not sure if it's really a girl or a delicate looking boy. Immediately after is a chubby kid with a bounce in his step, and a blonde who strolls in like he's seen too many pirate movies. (Pirates. He could remember that.)

Baffled, he doesn't understand why they're there until the last kid slips through the door. He wears a vest and suspenders, sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and the jittery walk allow identifies him as a Julio Escala, a boy who had saved his life.

Apparently.

"You're the NERDs," Heathcliff says, rubbing his eyes. He can't really make out their faces, not without glasses. His doctors had promised him a replacement pair, but he didn't really care. It wasn't like it mattered to him before today.

"Most of them, at lea-" the tall kid with blonde hair starts, before the delicate kid elbows him hard in the stomach.

"Yes, we are," the chubby preteen says, a kind tone in his voice that reminds him of Dr. Kim. "And we're here to make sure you're safe and comfortable. We're responsible for you, and we feel really bad about everything you've been through-"

Heathcliff isn't really sure what he's been through, so he picks up on the blondes' comment instead. "What do you mean, most of them? This isn't the whole team?"

He can barely see, but that doesn't hide the visible wince coming from the kids.

"No, man," Julio says, after a long pause. "Ruby - she's the leader - s'not, uh, ready to meet you yet."

"What did I do to her?" Heathcliff asks with a little smile. They say nothing, just stare steadily back, and the smile drops off his face.

"Ah," Heathcliff says. He's starting to wonder if he really wants to know who he was before his incident.

"No, dude, it wasn't that bad!" Julio protests. He hears a reprimanding whisper from the kids behind Julio, but can't make it out.

"But she refuses to talk to me." Heathcliff says, unimpressed with their (admittedly noble) efforts to pretend everything was okay.

"_De nada_, man. Don't-"

"We got over it, and so will she," the delicate kid says, voice distinctly female and calm. She folds her arms. "Give it time."

Another long pauses passes, and the kind kid presses his lips together, as if he's worried about how this conversation is going. "Well, um, we have to go now, Heathcliff, but if you need anything-"

"I can ask. I know." Heathcliff finds warmth in his voice, and as much as he's worried about this Ruby person… he knows that his words are true, and that he's willing to help in whatever way he can.

They all smile uneasily - the blonde revealing a mouth full of braces, and the girl a tooth gap that almost rivals his own - and leave, shuffling out one by one again.

Heathcliff settles back into his pillows, pulling his blankets up to his chin. He doesn't let himself think about Ruby or Julio or the help he might or might not deserve. He just wants to sleep.

* * *

"Doctor Kim? Do you know Ruby?"

The prescription slips out of the doctor's hands, and she does an impressive juggling dance to get it back in her grip. She gives a forced laugh. "Ruby? What do you know about a Ruby?"

Heathcliff presses his lips together. "I know that I knew her, and something I did to her is keeping her from ever talking to me again. I just want to know if it was really that bad…"

"Oh, Heathcliff." Doctor Kim hunkers down to sit on his bed, putting a hand on his shoulder. It's warm, comforting.

"She's going to forgive you, one day. You're a new person now, and those mistakes aren't yours."

"What kind of person was I to make that mistake in the first place, though? What was Ruby to me?"

Doctor Kim goes quiet, her fingers stilling on his shoulder. "I don't know," she says, quietly. "I don't think you did, either."

"What the hell does that mean?"

"Heathcliff!"

"Sorry," he says quickly, though he has a nagging feeling he never had to apologize for saying 'hell' and 'damn' before.

The doctor gives a disapproving headshake. "How about," she offers, "you make it up to me by not letting your impressive brain stress about some girl you don't even remember?"

The redhead nods compliantly, and she smiles with perfectly white teeth and places the prescription down on his bedside.

"Take one before you go to sleep!"

"Got it, Doctor Kim. Thank you for the advice." He sits up, back straight and he smiles through sweetly his teeth gap, until the woman leaves the room.

It seems to Heathcliff that the only way to get a straight answer was to wait for the girl herself.


	2. Chapter 2

I still haven't decided where I'm going with this - please review and say if you'd like to see more in this "fic universe", or if I should move on to some Attack of the Bullies speculation/future fic. :)

I've got an idea for a High School fic (au as for VV, but whatever) where the kids have been pulled into different high schools and reunite at a football game to go save the world (of course). And one that's my idea for Attack of the Bullies - involving the school dance and their work/school lives colliding. Thoughts?

* * *

"You really should see him, Ruby."

She bristles at the use of her name. "It's been two days_, Gluestick_, and there's no urgent need for me to observe him personally, especially as there's so much to do with Brand and Holiday and..."

"Ruby, it's got nothing to do with the team. You should see him. Personally. Talk to him. The rest of us did yesterday."

Ruby rolls her eyes, set to walk away…

"...And we kind of mentioned you to him."

"You what?" She spins around and scratches at the back of her neck.

"It was an accident!" Duncan insists, backing away.

"I told you I didn't want to be apart of this, okay? Why couldn't you just respect that?"

Duncan expression begins to lose it's usual calm. "It was an _accident_," he repeated, "and you can't hide from him forever, Ruby."

She turns away from him. "I did go in. Yesterday, after you guys left. He was asleep. He… he doesn't look like Heathcliff. Heathcliff was vicious. This kid is… he's hiding it under a friendly exterior, and we're going to have to be on our toes. We can't let him get the best of us."

Duncan just looks at her, slowly shaking his head. "He's not any different. Or at least, he's not any different than the boy he was when he first joined the team."

"I know my own team mates, Gluestick. He was always like that. Always."

"No, he _wasn't,_" Duncan replies. "You just never allowed yourself to get to know him when he was a guy worth knowing, okay? You didn't want to be friends with any of us. You only started becoming our friend after Jackson arrived. He never got that chance."

Ruby can't remember Duncan ever telling her off like this. Ever. She's angry, but she lets him continue ranting, as she scratches still. She's allergic to confrontations. And being told she's wrong. And Duncan Dewey having a backbone.

"Give him this chance, okay? Give him the chance to be a normal kid, and then decide whether or not he's a monster that's not worth your time. It's not fair to him, Ruby. I know you're hurt about what he did to you— the team. I mean, what he did to the team. But he's a different person, and you need to treat him like one."

"I can't," she responds immediately. "He's Heathcliff Hodges. Memory or not, he'll always be Heathcliff Hodges."

"Then think about what you liked about Heathcliff Hodges, what you two had in common, because I'm not going to let you treat him like a villain when he's like this. It's not fair, and the rest of the team will back me up."

Ruby scowls. "Fine."

Duncan nods, and then winces a little. "Sorry, for, um, being so hard on you."

Ruby says nothing. _What you two had in common_, she thinks, and she reaches up and touches the frames of her glasses.

* * *

When Heathcliff wakes up, there's a girl in his room.

He know she's a girl, even with his blur-o-vision, because she's got her hair pulled into weird shapes on either side of her head. And even though she's his age, he can distinguish a shape to her, belt tight around a small waist, her figure already turning into – what was it again? An hourglass? Whatever it was called, it made her very obviously Not A Boy.

She's standing against the wall, very still and watching him, doesn't even move when he sits up. He finds himself suddenly very aware of the way his hair sticks up and the gap in his teeth, and tries not to recoil. All she does is tilt her head, slightly. Her gaze is electric, powerful, cutting through him, into the parts of him that he can't see; into the parts of him he doesn't understand. And quite clearly doesn't like what she sees.

This must be Ruby.

"Hello," he tries.

She turns her entire body to him and crosses her arms. "Hello." It's a sharp response, almost like a challenge.

Being polite has served him well the past few days, so he squares his shoulders and says, "I'm Heathcliff, and it's a pleasure to meet you." Then he leans over the hospital bed and extends his arm to her. He is literally pressing into the rail. It is very pathetic, and he really hopes she appreciates the effort he's putting into this ordeal.

The blur that it is her face moves a bit (he hopes it's a smile, but part of him very much doubts it) and then she walks over and takes his hand. Her handshake is incredibly firm.

Before she can release her hand, he speaks up. "And you are?"

She moves back, if surprised. "Ruby. Ruby Peet." He nods, like he didn't know this.

"It's very nice to meet you, Ruby Peet." He lets her hand go, and she immediately goes to work scratching her arm.

After that, silence. Heathcliff feels awkward. He can't meet her eye, not without being able to see her face, and his new glasses, just out of his reach, don't really help much. He looks at them, accidentally, and Ruby follows his gaze. Gingerly, she picks them off the table, like she was going to hand them to him. Instead, she examines them and pulls off her own frames to look through them.

"Hey," she says suddenly. "Are these are yours?"

"Yeah. The doctors gave them to me yesterday?" His nervousness turns the last bit into a question.

"Well, they're not your prescription."

Ohhhh. Well, he couldn't even properly remember the sensation of having good vision, so he doesn't feel particularly robbed. Ruby's still looking at him, though.

"Here," she says, handing him her own rounded frames. "We're the same."

Heathcliff takes them, surprised by this little bit of trivia. He adjusts the frames, trying to get them to fit comfortably on his face. He knows he used to wear glasses constantly, but it's an alien sensation now. As soon as he's convinced they won't fall off, he looks up.

His head swims from the adjustment, but God, it's an adjustment. He can see _everything. _He thinks he might even be able to see _sound. _He can see the dots on his sheets and the words written on the papers on his table and the cheerful posters on his walls, and Ruby…

_Ruby_.

She's got brown eyes. That's the first thing he notices. They're dark brown and incredibly intelligent looking, framed by pale lashes. Her nose is rounded and her mouth is just… what was the word? Pouty. She's got a few freckles, randomly crossing her nose and the lower part of her face, like a constellation. Her hair is pulled out of her face, and branches into two yellow-blonde pigtails on either side, curly to the point of looking fluffy.

His eyes takes in the curves of her cheek bones and mouth, the way she's looking at him.

Heathcliff feels his heart beat faster, and is really, really, _really_ glad he isn't hooked up to the heart rate monitor anymore.

Ruby takes his astonishment in the wrong way, fortunately. "Better? I don't know how you went without being able to see for this long."

"I was used to it," he says quietly, and she shakes her head, rolling her eyes. Her pouty lips set in a line. God, she was…

"I'll take these back now." She plucks them off his face, her pinky brushing against the top of his cheekbone, and his skin burns where she touches it. While she's putting her glasses back on, he rubs at his cheek.

With his vision gone, he finds it much easier to talk to her.

"How did you know? That we were the same prescription, I mean."

Ruby pulls back. "We knew each other before you lost your memory." She says curtly.

"I know that." He replies. "But did you switch glasses with everyone you met?"

He can feel her glaring at him, even if he can't see it. "When we were on… when we met," she corrects herself quickly, "we had to go on a trip. Our things were exchanged by accident. Miss… someone couldn't tell the difference, and I had been given your backpack and glasses and vice versa. We didn't even notice until Matilda pointed it out."

He catches all of her halts and hesitations and catalogs them for furthering questioning. "Then what? What happened?"

"You just smiled and accused me of being a rogue glasses thief."

"Were you a rogue glasses thief?" He asks, grinning. "If so, I'm taking your glasses back as compensation."

Ruby scoffs. "You haven't changed _at all_," she snaps back quickly, and immediately after makes a little gasping noise. Her hand raises to her mouth, like she's pressing the words back in. Suddenly the air is tense, electric, and she pulls back, away from him.

It feels like a dagger in his heart, and Heathcliff looks down.

"I'm going to go," Ruby says, after a minute of silence. He sees her turn.

"Ruby, wait," Heathcliff says. She stops walking, and he speaks to her back. "Were we friends? Ever?" The hope in his voice is tangible, desperate.

Her response is automatic. "No."

The word shakes him, and he grits his teeth. He's about to thank her for her time before she speaks again-

"…But we would have been. If we had known anything about actually _having _friends, we would have." She lets the words sit and then begins to walk again, her black shoes hitting the ground in a calculated pattern he's sure he will never forget. Not again, at least.

"Well," he says to stop her, thinking. "…Do you know anything about having friends now?"

She scoffs again, as if offended. "If I've managed to become friends with J_ackson Jones_, then I think I've learned how, yeah." He has no idea what the hell she's talking about, but that's okay, because it's addressed to Old Heathcliff, and it's not as hostile and vicious as everything else she's said today, and that's a start.

"Well, good, because I want to try. I don't know who I was, Ruby, or what I said or did or didn't do, but I want to be friends with you _now_, and that's all that matters."

She still won't look at him. "And why do you want to do that?"

"Because you let me borrow your glasses," he answers, "even though you came in here wanting nothing to do me."

She stands quite still. After a moment, she says, "Okay, that's the stupidest reason for wanting to be friends with someone I've ever heard."

"Not fair. _You_ should cut me some slack, as I've only been around for a few days."

He has a feeling she's rolling her eyes again. "Fine."

"Fine what?" He says, smiling.

"Your petulance is vexing," she says, turning, her hand to her forehead. He wonders if she said it just to test his vocabulary. "Fine, we can be friends."

He grins. "Thank you."

Ruby sighs. "Don't make me regret this, Hodges."

"You won't, Pufferfish."

She shakes her head, as if she's already done with him. "I'm leaving now."

"Goodbye."

She walks out, and he smiles stupidly at the closed door for a full minute afterwards. Then he lies back on his hospital bed and stares at the (still blurry) ceiling. Ruby's face is still burned into his mind, and he runs through their chat in his head. For the first conversation he's ever had with a pretty girl, it didn't go _too_ terribly...

And now he has so many questions, about the things she left out and how the rest of the kids fit into this. Not like he was expecting answers for them any time soon, but it was something to mull over while he waited for new glasses. He grabs the remote from his table and turns on the TV, quite pleased with himself and life in general. Life is starting to make sense, for the first time ever.

…Except for one thing.

…Why the hell did he call her Pufferfish?


End file.
